There are slighter differences in spelling, pitch, and stress as well.

Written American
English also has a tendency to be more rigid in matters of grammar and syntax, but at the
same time appears to be more tolerant of the use of neologisms. Despite these differences,
it is often difficult to determine—apart from context—whether serious literary works have
been written in Great Britain or the U.S./Canada—or, for that matter, in Australia, New
Zealand, or South Africa. See American English.

2.4.6. Basic English

A simplified form of the English language based on 850 key words was developed in the
late 1920s by the English psychologist Charles Kay Ogden and publicized by the English
educator I. A. Richards. Known as Basic English, it was used mainly to teach English to
non-English-speaking persons and promoted as an international language. The
complexities of English spelling and grammar, however, were major hindrances to the
adoption of Basic English as a second language.

The fundamental principle of Basic English was that any idea, however complex, may be
reduced to simple units of thought and expressed clearly by a limited number of everyday
words. The 850-word primary vocabulary was composed of 600 nouns (representing things
or events), 150 adjectives (for qualities and properties), and 100 general “operational”
words, mainly verbs and prepositions. Almost all the words were in common use in
English-speaking countries; more than 60 percent were one-syllable words. The
abbreviated vocabulary was created in part by eliminating numerous synonyms and by
extending the use of 18 “basic” verbs, such as make, get, do, have, and be. These verbs
were generally combined with prepositions, such as up, among, under, in, and forward. For
example, a Basic English student would use the expression “go up” instead of “ascend.”

2.4.7. Pidgin English

English also enters into a number of simplified languages that arose among non-English-
speaking peoples. Pidgin English, spoken in the Melanesian islands, New Guinea,
Australia, the Philippines, and Hawaii and on the Asian shores of the Pacific Ocean,
developed as a means of communication between Chinese and English traders.

The Chinese adopted many English words and a few indispensable non-English words and
created a means of discourse, using a simple grammatical apparatus. Bêche-de-Mer, a
pidgin spoken in the southern and western Pacific islands, is predominantly English in
structure, although it includes many Polynesian words. Chinook Jargon, used as a lingua
franca by the Native Americans, French, and English on the North American Pacific coast,
contains English, French, and Native American words; its grammatical structure is based
on that of the Chinook language. The use of pidgin is growing in Africa, notably in
Cameroon, Sierra Leone, and East Africa.

2.4.8. Future of the English Language

The influence of the mass media appears likely to result in standardized pronunciation,
more uniform spelling, and eventually a spelling closer to actual pronunciation. Despite the
likelihood of such standardization, a unique feature of the English language remains its
tendency to grow and change. Despite the warnings of linguistic purists, new words are
constantly being coined and usages modified to express new concepts. Its vocabulary is
constantly enriched by linguistic borrowings, particularly by cross-fertilizations from
American English. Because it is capable of infinite possibilities of communication, the
English language has become the chief international language.

2.5. Grammar

It is the branch of linguistics dealing with the form and structure of words (morphology),
and their interrelation in sentences (syntax). The study of grammar reveals how language
works. (Lyons, 1999)
2.5.1. Kinds of Grammar

Most people first encounter grammar in connection with the study of their own or of a
second language in school. This kind of grammar is called normative, or prescriptive,
because it defines the role of the various parts of speech and purports to tell what is the
norm, or rule, of “correct” usage. Prescriptive grammars state how words and sentences
are to be put together in a language so that the speaker will be perceived as having good
grammar. When people are said to have good or bad grammar, the inference is that they
obey or ignore the rules of accepted usage associated with the language they speak.

Some grammarians seek to establish the differences or similarities in words and word
order in various languages, this is called functional grammar. However, some
grammarians are more concerned with determining how the meaningful arrangement of
the basic word-building units (morphemes) and sentence-building units (constituents) can
best be described. This approach is called descriptive grammar. Descriptive grammars
indicate what languages—often those never before written down or otherwise recorded—
are like structurally.

These types of grammar constitute a part of linguistics that is distinct from phonology
(the linguistic study of sound) and semantics (the linguistic study of meaning or content).
Grammar is then the organizational part of language—how speech is put together, how
words and sentences are formed, and how messages are communicated.

Specialists called transformational-generative grammarians, such as the American

linguistic scholar Noam Chomsky, approach grammar quite differently—as a theory of
language. By language, these scholars mean the knowledge human beings have that
allows them to acquire any language.
2.6. SYNONYMS

(In ancient Greek syn 'συν' = plus and onoma 'όνομα' = name) are different words with
similar or identical meanings and are interchangeable. (Merria, Webster – 1984)

2.6.1. Synonymy

Synonymy is the semantic relation of sameness. When two words have the same meanings,
we say that they are synonymous. While this is true, simply defining synonymy as
sameness is rather unenlightening. Many linguists prefer instead to define it as being
"words whose similarities are greater than their differences". While this is a much looser
definition, it serves to highlight the fact that it is the differences in similar words that
makes them interesting. How different can two words be and still be synonymous? Are
there types of difference that break synonymy? Are there different kinds of synonymous
pairings?

In general, we can break synonymy down into three categories, varying by degree.

* Absolute Synonymy

Two words are defined as being absolutely synonymous if they are equinormal for
all contexts. This means that for every context where Word A is perfectly
acceptable, Word B is as well. Similarly, whenever Word A seems a bit strange or
out of place, Word B must be equally out of place. In practice, almost no such pairs
exist in normal language. Here are some examples that highlight the difficulty in
finding words which are absolutely synonymous:

brave:courageous

Little Billy was so brave at the dentist's today.

Little Billy was so courageous at the dentist's today.

calm:placid
 She was quite calm just a few minutes ago.

She was quite placid just a few minutes ago.

Inevitably it seems, we can find contexts where one of the words seems slightly
inappropriate or slightly out of place, though JudyT points out that furze and gorse may
be absolutely synonymous. In general, Absolute Synonymy is only really useful as a
conceptual reference point.

* Propositional Synonymy

Two words are propositionally synonymous if they can be used in any truth
functional expression and not change the value of the sentence.

Sally took the can from the box.

Sally took the tin from the box.

Alex plays the violin.

Alex plays the fiddle.

In a sentence like "Alex plays the fiddle in the orchestra" the use of 'fiddle' (a word
which in this context typically is only used by professionals) preserves the truth
value for the sentence and so is appropriate for propositional synonymy.

Differences in propositional synonymy typically are either of style, field of

discourse, or in expressive meaning. In "the patient broke his shin" and "the patient
broke his fibula", the difference comes from the field of discourse.

* Near Synonymy

Essentially every synonymous word pairing that is neither of the two above. While
the distinction between propositional synonymy and near synonymy is clear at least
in theory, the line between near synonymy and non-synonymy is very difficult to
 draw formally. Fortunately, speakers seem to know intuitively whether terms are
synonymous, even though we cannot formulate a specific definition.

Other examples of synonyms are the words cat and feline. Each describes any member of
the family Felidae. Similarly, if we talk about a long time or an extended time, long and
extended become synonyms.

In the figurative sense, two words are often said to be synonymous if they have the same
connotation:

"a widespread impression that … Hollywood was synonymous with immorality"

(Doris Kearns Goodwin)

Synonyms can be nouns, adverbs or adjectives, as long as both members of the pair are the
same part of speech.

More examples of English synonyms:

 baby and infant (noun)

 student and pupil (noun)
 pretty and attractive (adjective)
 sick and ill (adjective)
 interesting and fascinating (adjective)
 quickly and speedily (adverb)

Note that the synonyms are defined with respect to certain senses of words; for instance,
pupil as the "aperture in the iris of the eye" is not synonymous with student. Similarly,
expired as "having lost validity" (as in grocery goods) does not necessarily mean death.
Some lexicographers claim that no synonyms have exactly the same meaning (in all
contexts or social levels of language) because etymology, orthography, phonic qualities,
ambiguous meanings, usage, etc. make them unique. However, many people feel that the
synonyms they use are identical in meaning for all practical purposes.
Different words that are similar in meaning usually differ for a reason: feline is more
formal than cat; long and extended are only synonyms in one usage and not in others, such
as a long arm and an extended arm. Synonyms are also a source of euphemisms.

The purpose of a thesaurus is to offer the user a listing of similar or related words; these
are often, but not always, synonyms. In a way, hyponyms are similar to synonyms.

2.7. HYPONYMS

When striving to name a concept with great precision, it helps to understand synonyms,
hypernyms and hyponyms. Knowing how to apply these nyms will sharpen our search
skills and enhance our keyword formation. The root "nym" comes from the Greek onoma,
a name. We use the term nym to identify many classes of words. (ala.org)

2.7.1. Hyponymy

Hyponymy is a sense relation in semantics that serves to relate word-concepts in a

hierarchical fashion. Examples are:
apple:fruit
car:vehicle
stool:furntiture
cow:animal

The more specific concept is known as the hyponym, and the more general concept is
known as the hypernym or superordinate. Apple is the hyponym of fruit and fruit is the
superordinate of Apple.

Typically in semantics we can view things from two points of view, either from the
Extensional viewpoint (relating the meanings of words to the outside world) or from the
Intensional viewpoint, (relating word meaning to mental concepts). From an extensional
view, the superordinate is the class of items that includes the class of hyponyms. If one is
the subset of the other, then they are in a hyponymical relation. By this thinking, if the
class of flowers contains the class of daisies then they are in the superordinate-hyponym
relation. (true)

From the intensional view, the hyponym is more a more detailed mental concept than that
of the superordinate. The mental concept flower is rather vague, perhaps only containing
the fact that it is a plant, containing usually small, colorful petals. The concept for daisy is
much more detailed, however, containing the specific colors, height, season of appearance,
etc.

2.7.2. Problems

There are two problems that arise when we try to formalize the definition. Typically
hyponymy is expressed as asymmetric entailment: It is an apple entails that it is a fruit, but
not vice versa. It is a square entails that it is a rectangle, but not the reverse. The problem is
that just because a pair is hyponymyc, it does not mean that the superordinate is always
appropriate:

"The fact that it was a cow surprised the driver."

"The fact that it was an animal surprised the driver."

In this case, the fact that it was a cow does not entail the fact that the driver was surprised
because it was an animal. Additionally, we have problems with negation: "It's not a cow"
does not entail "it's not an animal."

The second problem stems from the fact that the definition of entailment used in linguistics
states that only logically necessary, context-independent relations may count as entailment.
The problem comes from the fact that speakers typically judge knife:cutlery and dog:pet to
be valid relationships, just like dog:animal, but these relationship are not always true.
There are many hunting knives which are not cutlery, just as there are many wild dogs that
are not pets. What seems to be happening is since no context or domain is being specified,
subjects are responding assuming a typical, everyday context. The relations stated above
are true, for an everyday context. The problem comes from the fact that linguistic
entailment demands context-independence.
Despite the problems that are encountered in constructing a formal definition of
meronymy, it still remains an exceedingly useful tool in understanding word sense.
Whenever we are working on the Internet the use of hyponyms will be really useful. Now
that we are all familiar with synonyms: words that mean the same thing. The first step in
creating a list of keywords is to write down all of the synonyms that describe the topic of
our search. We should consider using an online or traditional thesaurus as we create our
keyword list. It is also wise to scan the results of our first search for strong keywords.
Synonyms (or any keyword) act as either hyponyms or hypernyms. What are hypernyms
and hyponyms? How can understanding and using these specialized nyms help us focus a
search?

A hyponym is a word that describes things more specifically. Proper nouns are good
examples of hyponyms. Niagara Falls is a hyponym for the concept of waterfall. Ford is a
hyponym for the concept car. Just as a hypodermic needle ends with a very fine point,
hyponyms are words that pointedly focus our search. Keywords that are hyponyms will
retrieve fewer and more precise results. For this reason, hyponyms narrow a search.

2.7.3. Hypernym

Hypernyms are words that refer to broad categories or general concepts. Car or airplane
are hypernyms for more precise terms like Toyota Camry, or Boeing 747. If we are not
getting enough results we can broaden our search by using hypernyms.

English is an intricate language with many subtleties. Words will always have shades of
meaning that are difficult for computers to prioritize. A careful application of nyms can
help any search engine find just what we are looking for.

2.7.4. What are Nyms?

The root "nym" comes from the Greek onoma, a name. We use the term nym to identify
many classes of words. When an Internet searcher speaks of "nyms" they are generally
referring to sets of words that improve query formation by providing precise control over
keyword selection.
2.7.5. How can understanding nyms empower our search?

Part of any good search strategy is the careful selection of keywords. Understanding how
hypernyms and hyponyms will affect our search puts real power into our hands. As we
build a query, be aware that use of nyms will narrow or broaden our search. This
knowledge helps us form an effective query.

Hyponyms are more specific names that identify our topic. Often hyponyms are proper
nouns such as Ford, Chevrolet, or Toyota.

Using hyponyms will narrow a search and retrieve more specific results. In general this is
just what we want to do. As we generate keywords, thinking of hyponyms we might use
will help us get better specific results.

Hyponyms narrow our search to a fine point - like the point of a hypodermic needle.

2.8. FALSE FRIENDS

This expression coined by Maxime Koessler and Jules Derocquigny in their book "Les
Faux Amis ou les pièges du vocabulaire anglais", (1928) is used to define words that just
appear to have similar meaning in two different languages. They are called false friends or
more technically false cognates, because they can deceive you, and if you are learning
languages, it is very likely that you will run into trouble with them. (cogsci.princeton.edu)

For Spanish speaking people, embarrassed sounds like embarazada (pregnant).

And every teacher uses this quite worn joke as a reminder :

It can be embarrassing to be embarazada, (pregnant)!
…at least if we learn from Spanish to English...

Not all false friends are "false cognates". Many of those which cause problems between
English and other European languages are real cognates - words in different languages
with similar forms sharing a common etymology - where one has undergone a semantic
shift and the other has not. For example, the English adjective "actual", meaning "real", in
contrast with imaginary or predicted, has true cognates in most Western European
languages - e.g. French actuel, German aktuel, Italian attuale, Dutch actueel - all of which
mean "current", of the moment. In this case it was the English word which changed its
meaning in or around the eighteenth century. Eventually (after a long delay) and its
cognates eventuellement, eventualmente, eventueel etc. (possibly, maybe) are another
common example along the same lines.

Actual false cognates - homonyms or near-homonyms in different languages with distinct

meanings and unrelated etymologies - are somewhat rarer, at least in fairly closely related
languages like those of Europe (apart from a few non-indo-European isolates). Examples
might be the (unlikely) confusion between butter and donkeys in Italian and Spanish (es
burro = it asino; it burro = es mantequilla), or an English kiss and a Finnish cat, or French
and English meanings of chair.

This type of words are similar in spelling and/or pronunciation in two languages but have
different meanings. A common mistake that beginning students of foreign languages make
is to assume that a word that looks similar to one they know will have the same meaning.

False friends are quite common between Spanish and English. These two languages often
have words derived from a common etymological stem (usually Latin) but that eventually
have evolved to different meanings. Some common examples are "carpet" and "carpeta"
(folder) or "to remove" and "remover" (to stir). Even Babelfish translates the latter
wrongly!

Confusion is usually harmless, but not always: if you natively speak Spanish and catch a
cold while abroad, you might find yourself in trouble if you ask the pharmacist for some
drug to cure a constipation.
Sometimes the similarity in words of two languages comes about because of coincidence.
For example, there is no connection between the English "tuna" and the Spanish tuna
(which refers to a type of cactus). At other times, the meaning has changed in one or both
languages from what it originally meant. An example is the Latin word futilis, which
originally meant something (such as a boat) that leaked. In English the word eventually
became "futile," meaning "ineffective," while in Spanish the word became fútil, meaning
"insignificant."

Also Known As: falso amigo in Spanish. In English, although it is not technically precise,
sometimes the term "false cognate" is used synonymously.
Examples: The Spanish once means "eleven," not "once." Pretender usually means "to
try," not "to pretend." Delito usually means "crime," not "delight."

To avoid being caught out:

• Learn the most common false friends.

• Always check that the meaning you have guessed fits the context.
• If we are not sure, check in the dictionary.